This is the fourth year the award has been named for Dr. Castañeda, who served Rice University for 46 years as an educator, coach and Faculty Athletics Representative before he passed away in November 2008. The conference annually presents the $4,000 Postgraduate Scholarship awards to graduates as selected by the C-USA Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Board of Directors.

Cummings, who earned team MVP and Most Valuable Offensive Player honors, became the first-ever Pirate to garner First-Team NSCAA All-Central Regional honors and closed out her four-year career leading the team in goals (9) and points (22) on her way to First-Team All-Conference USA honors in 2011.

One of three team captains, she was named one of 20 Players to Watch in C-USA by TopDrawerSoccer.com in 2011 and against Old Dominion posted the first of two multi-goal games when she became the first Pirate since Meghan McCallion (2004) to record a hat trick in the Pirates 4-1 victory over the Monarchs.

During her career with the Pirates, Cummings started 38 of 78 career games scoring 15 career goals, dishing out 11 assists and recording 41 points - all ranking among the Top 15 in school history.

A native of Mechanicsville, Va., Cummings graduated summa cum laude in May with a bachelor's of science in business management, marketing and management information systems. Her 3.921 GPA earned her honors on the Dean's List, the C-USA All-Academic women's soccer team, Capital One/Co-SIDA Academic All-District Team and NSCAA Academic All-America Team.